


Motus Clade

by Kobayashi_Tales



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Casual Sex, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Feminist Themes, Friendship, M/M, Multi, Other, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:28:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23858347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kobayashi_Tales/pseuds/Kobayashi_Tales
Summary: After an untimely death commences a large reshuffling in the Security staffing, A newly promoted Junior-Grade Lieutenant is stationed aboard the star ship Enterprise, to act as the lead Communications Officer. Laura Harper may be small, but she is mighty. This is a close-canon AU, and my version of how a strong, bad-ass woman should've been written into the crew of the Enterprise. Alternative title: Revenge for Denise Crosby.
Relationships: Data (Star Trek)/Original Female Character(s), Geordi La Forge/Original Female Character(s), William Riker/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	1. Prolegomena

**Author's Note:**

> I will be attempting to adhere to canon as close as possible while writing about this OC's experience aboard and her influence upon the crew. The idea for this story came from a large amount free time due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent quarantine, and some hard thinking about the first season of the show. Generally speaking, people dismiss this as the weakest season, and even further, dismiss Tasha Yar as a not very well executed character. While, upon initially agreeing with this assessment, I decided that there is potential for a strong female in this story, and this is my version of that character being given a chance to shine. This story begins around the beginning of season 3. There's some continuity errors with the fact that season two would probably be a more likely time for this officer to be hired, but I wanted it to be set a little further out. Also, a Communications Officer doesn't actually appear in TNG, where Worf or Data might actually act in this role, but it is featured in other Star Trek series. I wanted to make her a more senior officer, but not take the role that anyone else would canonically otherwise have. This story will feature heavy topics such as misogyny, gender roles, casual sex, and power balances. If any of this stuff makes you uncomfortable or are things you disagree with, you might not care for the story. This story will be generally a 'T' rated story, but anything that goes beyond that will be marked in chapter notes.

1400 hours. I was to beam aboard and report directly to the Chief Security Officer for assignment. 

Despite the seriousness of the situation, I couldn’t help but smile to myself. I’d finally made it. The Enterprise. NCC-1701-D. It was the dream station of every young Starfleet officer to be a part of the flag ship’s crew. However, before accepting this assignment, my previous commanding officer had urged me to be humble.

He informed me that there was an untimely death that granted a reshuffling of the security team on the Enterprise. And I was the new hire. Granted, being the Communications Officer is several rungs below the late Chief Security Officer, but they still might not take too kindly to any replacements. I’d like to believe that those close to the passing officer were able to make the distinction or at the very least, have the professionalism necessary to not hold me accountable. But one could only hope.

But regardless of my fear of ostracisation, I couldn’t help but also be excited at the prospects of this new position. I had often been mocked in the academy for my interests in communication and diplomacy by my peers. This opportunity has now given me a platform to best those who’ve doubted me and my work's importance. Sure, it wasn’t as hard pressed constantly as the science and engineering positions, or even a helmsman’s duty, but communication is fundamental to all life. Precise and accurate communication can be the difference between a new friend, and all out war. I considered linguistics to be just as valid as calculus, or advanced physics, and probably even more important at times. And that's another reason the position aboard the Enterprise was appealing. Everyone knew of, and admired the diplomatic efforts of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Hopefully, one day, I can make as much of a difference as he has.

“Ma’m, the Enterprise is ready to beam you aboard now.”

I was probably just sitting there grinning like an idiot while I was deeply immersed in my own thoughts. The woman that roused me from my thoughts gave me a sympathetic smile. Working in this sector, she’s probably heard the news, and can put two and two together and figure out I’m the replacement. I quickly stood, grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

‘Alright, Laura, it’s your time to shine.’ I told myself, before taking a deep breath and stepping up to the transporter pad. I gave a small nod to the man standing at the console, shutting my eyes, and waiting for the tell-tale sound of my atoms being rematerialized elsewhere. It doesn’t hurt, but it was a particular sensation to get used to. 

When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in a transporter room in the Enterprise. I took another deep breath, and surveyed my surroundings. There was a tall human man standing at the panel, and closer in front of me, two even taller men, a human and a klingon. Ah, what a welcoming party. Is this entire ship filled with large, masculine men? It’s almost reminiscent of the old days of the US Navy. Except, back then, the prominent homosexuality was considered certainly taboo, but, these days, it wasn’t nearly as something to be upset over. It’s hard to imagine a time in which something as simple and fundamental as same sex marriage would be illegal.

I must have been staring around for longer than necessary, because I had earned a small throat clearing from the man closest to me. I hastily stepped down from the pad, looking straight up at him. He stood a good foot and a half taller than me, with a broad chest, thick beard, and baby blue eyes. 

“Lieutenant Harper, reporting.” I stood with my back straight, and my arms falling flat to my side.

“At ease, Lieutenant. Welcome aboard the Enterprise.” The man closest to me said, grinning widely. 

“Thank you, sir” Or should I say, commander, judging by the number of sparkling adornments on his collar. 

He gave me a small nod “I’m Commander Riker, the ship’s first officer. The Captain wishes he also could’ve been here to greet you, but he had other engagements, I’m sure you understand.”

He told me, he didn’t ask. Even if he did, the Captain didn’t really need a reason to not be here, he is the Captain, after all. It’s the new Communications Officer, not an ambassador or foreign diplomat.

“Yes, of course, sir.” It wasn’t a question, right. I couldn’t help but feel a little sad that I wouldn’t be meeting the captain probably anytime soon. He was such a big part of the reason I accepted this position, besides the obvious promotion.

“This is Lieutenant Worf, our Chief of Security. He will be your commanding officer. You will report to him for any and all grievances.” Of course, in this situation where I knew I might not be well liked, I was standing below a large Klingon.

The Klingon man’s large stature was contrasted by a particular aura. It was not as if I’d never met anyone who was Klingon before, of course not, but something struck me as just slightly off. Generally speaking, Klingons were proud ‘warriors’, and would usually have an air of strength and confidence around them. Worf, however, seemed almost uneasy. His outward demeanor was stern, but he also had that air of uncertainty about him. I assume his promotion was also not based on the best of circumstances. 

I took a step closer, and gave him a quick but solid “Sir”. 

Worf nodded to Riker, who gave me a quick smile before taking his leave of the area. Worf had then gestured towards the door. I tried my best to follow him closely, and while he wasn’t walking particularly fast, it was a bit of a struggle to keep up with his large gate. 

“Your first shift will begin tomorrow at 0700 hours. You will be stationed alongside another officer to start out, but within the next week or so, you should be prepared and willing to be scheduled for shifts by yourself. Your primary duties will be in cultural research, sensitivity training when necessary during diplomatic affairs, overseeing department to department communication, as well as serving as a liaison in any applicable diplomatic scenario. However..”

His voice seemed to drown in formalities. I already knew what the job would entail. I tried my best to pay attention, but my mind couldn’t help but to wander, mentally juggling the varieties of connotations associated with my promotion. My neurons were working overtime to deliver an excess of deliberations, which I found deeply unnecessary, and distracting from my current objective.

While I tried to shake myself of those thoughts, I found myself studying my surroundings to try and help ground me. As we made our way down wide halls, I was relieved to discover that there are some officers, and civilians, aboard this ship that aren’t actual giants. Though, it still seemed everyone towered over me. Not that that’s not something I’m used to, anyway. They stared at me as we made our way around the ship. I like to think that it was probably just the confusion of a new face on board, or a strikingly small stature on the ‘security team’, but I had the gut wrenching feeling that everyone that warned me that I might not be exactly welcomed, was correct.

“And of course, I’ve already informed our Doctor Crusher of your request for medical accommodations, She asked me to inform you that you are free to visit the sick bay whenever you’re available today.”

I turned back toward him when I realized we had stopped suddenly in front of a set of doors. 

“Oh, yes of course, thank you.” He raised an eyebrow, I contemplated if he knew how little of his speech I retained. Or perhaps he was contemplating how much research I had done on the ship’s personnel before boarding. “I will, of course, be sending all of this information to your personal PADD, and if you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to ask.”

I thought I saw the smallest, almost, smile appear on his face, but before I could double check if my eyes were deceiving me, he was facing away from me and pushing some buttons on the panel beside the doors, which soon opened.

“These are your personal quarters. If you require any additional accommodations, you can request them using the computer system.”

I walked past him and inside, taking my time to glance around. They certainly were much roomier than the quarters I shared with Ensign Clayton back on the Juneau. I placed my single piece of luggage on the couch, and turned to face the Lieutenant, “These will be wonderful, thank you, Sir.” And with that, he turned and promptly left, with only a bare nod. A pregnant silence filled the room as I realized I was finally alone. And, aboard the Enterprise. And I couldn't help but let out a joyous squeal at the realization, flopping down on the bed.

I took a few moments to let in sink in, before sitting up and letting out a small sigh. As exciting as a new assignment is, let alone one on the Starfleet’s Flagship, it came with all of its own struggles. A new group of officers to get to know, a new set of officers to figure out which ones you can joke with, and which ones you can’t. And of course, with a promotion, as magical as it can be, throws into sharp contrast which I have yet to achieve.

‘A place to call my own. A group of friends I consider family, anyone whose friendship won’t dissolve once you’re no longer stuck with them for hours every day for several weeks.’ 

It wasn’t that hard to make friends, sure, but to keep them is something I’ve not yet mastered.

As morbid as it sounds, it reminds me of grade school. An extension of it, if you will. You’re stuck in a room with the same group of kids for 8 hours a day for the first 18 years of your life, well, minus the first 4, and of course, you’re bound to get along with some of them. Shared experiences have always been a bonding point between humans. But of course, as soon as any extended breaks come along, or with even more permanency, graduation, you never hear from those friends again. 

It was easy to sit and contemplate the dichotomy of being sad to leave a familiar place, and the excitement of a new opportunity.

I took my time to unpack, arranging the small amount of personal ornaments I brought with me around my quarters, and putting my non-Starfleet-Uniform clothes in a small provided dresser. I took a step back from my work to take another good look at what would be home for me, for, well, at least a while. I hope.

I was once again brought abruptly out of my day dreaming by the sound of the door chiming.

“Come in!” I hollered, straightening out my uniform shirt. I really wasn’t expecting any visitors, but this one seemed friendly. I was glad to see a woman, of about an average height and a physique much curvier than mine. She had long,dark, curly hair, and piercing dark eyes, for which, I could tell you, she was definitely, at least partly, betazoid.

“Lieutenant Harper, It’s nice to meet you, I’m Deanna Troi, the ship's counselor.” Deanna entered, reaching a hand out for me to shake. I promptly took her hand, and gave it a firm shake.

“Please, call me Laura.”

“Only if you can agree to call me Deanna.” She seemed amused. “I came here to check on you, and make sure you’re settling in okay.”

“I think i'm doing quite fine so far,” I gestured to the small sofa in the room, non-verbally asking her to sit with me. She took a seat and continued. “Transferring is never easy.” She looked almost uneasy for a moment, “And I’m sure you’re well aware of the circumstances surrounding your transfer onto the ship. I can sense that you’re nervous about how people might react to your being here.”

While she spoke, I gathered myself a cup of tea from the replicator, and sat down in a chair adjacent to her seat. “Nervous seems like an understatement, if looks could kill, I’d of passed the moment I beamed onto this ship.” 

Deanna seemed to relax, “Well, lucky for you, people can stare all they want, but there’s nothing they can do beyond that.” 

“Yeah, lucky me” I took a long drink of my tea.

“So, have you gotten the chance to explore the ship much?”

I sat my drink down, tucking my legs up, “No, actually, I’ve not been here for too long. My commanding officer, uh, Worf, yes, He escorted me here, and I’ve spent the last bit of time unpacking. I wanted to make sure I was settled before I wandered off. I do have to visit the doctor sometime today, but after that, I was thinking I might visit the aquarium, or the arboretum.” I smiled to myself, thinking of how truly vast this ship is. At my last stationing, there was exactly one holodeck, and it was reserved, really, for only special occasions.

“Well, that all sounds lovely. However, if you don’t have plans for dinner, maybe you would like to join me in ten-forward tonight. It’s the social center of all of the ship's activities.”

I thought about it for a moment. While I really wasn’t much of an extrovert, it would be good to see other parts of the ship, and I know if I’m having dinner with Deanna, people would be less likely to be rude in any sort of way.

“Actually, I’d love to join you.It’d be good for me to get out of here for a while.’

“Excellent! Let’s meet there, oh, say, 1700 hours?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

We then briefly discussed our prior stations. During my time as an ensign, I served on the USS Juneau, working with their comm team. I learned about Deanna studying psychology at the university on Betazed, and her relationship with Commander Riker, which was very quickly glossed over.

“So, Laura, where are you from?” 

“Well,” I sat my cup of tea down on the coffee table, “ My family’s origins are from western Europe, but we have been in Los Angeles on Earth for quite a while. My mother’s side has been in the city as far as we can trace back, but my father’s side had traditionally settled further east, near Chicago, but my great grandfather decided to move out west.”

“I hear it’s a wonderful area. My mother and I were both born and raised on Betazed, but my father was human, from Earth.”

“Ah, you don’t have any siblings then?”

“No, I’m an only child. Though sometimes I think it might’ve fun to have a little sibling to play dress up with.” Deanna and I both chuckled

“It’s only fun when they’re younger- I have a little sister, Tammy. She’s 6 years younger than me. When we were little, I used to push her around in a toy stroller and put make-up on her. But, when we were older, I was constantly annoyed. She would always ‘borrow’ my clothes or makeup and either never return them, or stained and damaged them. Though eventually the older we got, my clothes became too small for her. I thought she would stop taking them and I’d finally be able to keep my wardrobe together, but instead they’d just be returned to me stretched out.”

“It seems to be common for sisters to have those kinds of experiences, especially with that kind of age gap. Do you two get along well now?”

I sighed, “It’s kinda complicated, to be honest. I know she loves me, and I return the sentiment, but she never approved of my joining Starfleet. We both share a love for peacemaking, but she viewed my career choice as a way of supporting a ‘violent’ organization. I’d try to convince her that Starfleet, especially what I do, is focused on scientific exploration, but she focuses too much on the history surrounding traditional militarism. So now she writes research papers focusing on crime statistics while I’m up in the stars.” I paused for a moment, staring down at the tea I was drinking, suddenly appitized by it. “My leaving for the academy had also quickly followed my father’s death. I guess at the time she was sad and angry because she thought I was abandoning her and our guilt-stricken mother, but, it was important for me to have done what I did. I needed to get away.”

Deanna reached forward and gave my hand a light squeeze, “People cope with the loss of a loved one in many different ways, and they’re in a state of heightened emotional distress. People naturally want to find an outlet for their anger, something or someone else to blame, and it’s not your fault that you became the victim of that. If you don’t mind me asking, what was the cause of your father’s passing?”

I took in a shaky breath. I could feel the tears swelling up in my eyes, but I blinked them away before they could fall.

“He committed suicide, I was 19, and my little sister was 13. He never left a note, so we never really had any explanation as to why he took his own life. We all blamed ourselves. My mother would prattle on and on, wondering if she had nagged him too much, or should’ve slept with him more. Tammy would ask me if it was because she had asked for too much stuff, I questioned if it was my decision to leave and join the academy that saddened him. But, It was nobody’s fault but his. That was 7 years ago now, and it’s taken every minute of those years to be with it.”

She seemed saddened for me, but I hoped she could tell that it was an old scar. I like to think it’s mostly healed. I took another deep breath before speaking again.

“Anyway, it’s not a thing of contention now, she’ll make snide marks about my uniform, but she’s accepted that the work I do here is good.”

“I’m glad to hear things are working much better now.” Deanna smiled brightly at me before stretching and standing, “Well, it’s been nice to meet you, Laura, but I’m afraid I have a patient to meet with soon. I really enjoyed our talk. I’ll see you at dinner tonight.”

I also stood to be able to see her out the door, and Deanna spoke again “And, if you’d like, maybe tonight we can talk about you scheduling some visits for yourself.”

“We’ll talk about it tonight, sure.” It was another brief goodbye, and I was standing alone in my quarters again.

She seemed nice enough, but there was also the ever so prickly thought in the back of my mind, that she might just be nice because she has to be, as counsellor. No matter, it was a nice interaction anyway. 

Now that I thought about it, I probably ought to give sickbay a visit before I forget to, or, in case it runs long, so I’m not late for dinner. I went to my new bathroom, and quickly tidied myself up. I thought about applying a small amount of makeup, but I just settled for some lip gloss, and pulling my long, dark hair down from where I had put it up this morning. I opted to change into some civilian clothing, a simple black blouse that I tucked into a pair of high-waisted dark denim shorts. I slipped on a pair of canvas sneakers and started on my way.

It took me a bit longer to get to the sick bay than originally anticipated. While the computer could provide me directions, and the panels could provide the map, there still lies the issue of me being able to follow directions. I guess there is a reason I’m not a helmsman. 

“Ah, you must be Lieutenant Harper.”

I was greeted as soon as I entered. There were a couple of other people in there resting, but generally, it was empty, save for a few nurses and the woman who greeted me.

“And you must be Doctor Crusher.”

I reached out to shake her hand. Man, I’ve already had too many introductions today. And it would probably only get worse from here.

“You’d be right. Follow me.” the ginger woman smiled at me kindly.

Doctor Crusher guided me into the main room, and onto one of the beds. The physical was rather short, and it consisted of mostly confirming information on my chart that was sent over. Beverly, who’s name I figured out during the exam, was a very friendly and warm person. It helped calm my nerves.

I ended up being about 15 minutes early to my dinner date with Deanna. I resolved that I would grab a drink from the bar, and find a spot to wait for her. 

I walked up to the bar, which was fairly crowded, given the time of day. Well, time of ship. I was greeted by a remarkably fashionable woman who introduced herself as Guinan. 

“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Laura. Can I just get a Vulcan Ale?”

“Sure thing.” She spoke to me while gathering my request, “I take it then you’re the new officer we picked up today. There’s been quite a lot of chatter. People wondering what you were going to be like.”

“That’s quite weird, considering how many people stared and didn’t speak to me since I’ve gotten here. The only person I’ve been able to have any sort of a conversation with so far has been the ship’s counselor. Actually, I’m meeting her for dinner right now.”

Guinan took a moment to look me up and down with intent. I had the initial reaction to cover myself, but, it’s not like I was naked or anything.

“Laura, I can tell we are going to be good friends. You’re strong. You’re not what people expect of you. I like that.”

“Oh, uh, well, thank you, that’s very nice.”

I tried my best not to be awkward, while taking my ale that she had set down in front of me. I gave her a small wave, and turned around, looking for a small table to sit at. I quickly found it, and sat down in a chair facing the door. I took a sip of my ale, and sat it down as well. 

There were a number of other people in the establishment, very few looked familiar. I recognized one man, a Commander Riker, who was now standing at the bar speaking with Guinan. I hadn’t noticed him before. I hoped it wasn’t rude that I didn’t greet him. 

Soon enough, Deanna had arrived, spotting me almost instantly. She approached the table, now also wearing a more casual ensemble. 

“I didn’t realize I was running late, Laura.” She smiled warmly, taking the seat adjacent to me.

“Oh, you’re not, I actually came right from Sick Bay. When I was finished seeing the doctor, I had a decent chunk of time, not enough to stop by quarters, but enough to be a few moments early. It did give me time to speak with the very curious bartender.”

“Ah, yes, that’s Guinan, She’s the one speaking to Will right now. She can be quite cryptic sometimes, but she’s friendly, very smart, and trustworthy. Captain Picard has known her for quite some time” Deanna seemed amused by my taking notice of the barkeep. 

“She seems okay. As did Doctor Crusher when I got to meet her. Actually, speaking with you and her was a very sharp contrast to my welcoming party, which was very intimidating. It was Commander Riker, Lieutenant Worf, and... I didn’t happen to catch the name of the person operating the transporter.”

We were interrupted briefly by a civilian worker. We placed our orders. I opted for a light dinner, grilled salmon with greens, and a second ale, while Deanna ordered a large slice of chocolate cake with her meal. I raised an eyebrow at her, but based off the reaction from the waiter, this isn't an uncommon occurrence. Deanna went straight back to speaking.

“That sounds like quite the bunch to be greeting you. To be honest, Worf can be a little intimidating, but once you get to know him, he is fair and dependable. The transporter chief is Miles O’Brien, he’s very funny, and down to earth. Will, on the other hand, is one of the ‘friendliest’ men I know. I’ve known him for quite some time, so I’ve gotten to have a first row seat to all of the shenanigans he likes to pull with women.”

“Ah, a ladies man.” I took another sip of my ale. “That makes sense, no man has eyes that pretty and isn’t sleeping with someone new every week.”

“You better watch out then, Laura.” She sat back in her seat, laughing under her breath.

“I don’t think I’ll have to, he seems like more of a tits kinda man, and I’m frankly very flat chested.” 

“I think he’ll go for pretty much anything with a pulse at this point,” her sentence was cut off by her own laughter, “besides, you have a nice rear, I’m sure that’s more than enough.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I think you want me to screw him more than I want to.” I raised an eyebrow at her odd statement.

“Are you saying you want to?”

I stopped halfway through my sip of ale.

“I wasn’t saying that.” Deanna raised her eyebrow at my response.

“Okay, well, he is attractive,” I paused to glance back over at him, only to find he was now facing my direction. “But, I couldn’t do it knowing you two have a history together.”

“That’s not something to be worried about. Neither of us are attached like that anymore. There’s a history, but we know we’re not together. We’re free to do what we like. And even if that wasn’t the case, I can’t stop you from doing anything. Though to be honest, you just don’t seem like much of a casual hookup person, anyway.”

I had to think about that one for a moment. I wouldn’t say she was wrong, given the majority of any sexual activity was with previous boyfriends, but I had had a few bouts of casual sex during academy, and when I was first graduated.

“I think hookup culture isn’t the worst thing in the world. It’s just not quite for me. It’s fun, sure, but you usually find that it’s never quite as simple as one and done. So I don’t really bother trying it anymore.”

At this point in time, I hadn’t noticed Will walking up to our table until he suddenly spoke. 

“May I join you ladies?” I really hoped he didn’t hear what I was going on about just now. 

“Sure, I don’t mind as long as Laura doesn’t” Deanna stared at me, and then back at Will. What was she implying?

“Oh, yeah, no, not at all, have a seat.”

Will took the invitation, taking his seat adjacent to mine in quite a particular fashion. Does he always swing his legs over his seat like that? It looks like he’s saddling a horse, not sitting down with his coworkers.

At this point, the same worker had come back to give us our food, and we started eating. I realized then that I didn’t have much of an appetite, but I also haven’t had anything since my small breakfast, and I should probably eat anyway.

“I hope you’re settling in alright, Laura. I’m sorry I couldn’t stick around longer to hear what I’m sure was a truly invigorating conversation with your new boss.” 

“Oh gosh, you have no idea.” I thought back on the conversation, while taking the time to finish chewing what was in my mouth, then having a long sip of my drink. It’s only synthehol, but it would have to do for now. 

“He’s a great guy, really. He tends to be a little intense. And I know he’s not exactly enthused with the fact his new security staff is a human female, but he’ll warm up to you.” Riker spoke, glancing quickly towards Deana, then back at me.

That one took me by surprise.

“You know, besides how grossly chauvinistic that is, I don’t even understand why I’m considered security anyway. I understand why Security and Communications need to work closely, but nobody takes anyone who wears the yellow security uniform and is as small as me seriously.” I rolled my eyes, setting my utensil down on my napkin.

Deanna decided to interject this time, “I know it’s probably hard for you to deal with that in and of its own, but with the added doubt caused by feeling like a replacement, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to meet with me often.”

Ah, I had almost forgotten about that. I would’ve wished she picked a more private venue to discuss this, but I guess it’s happening. I took a moment to think before responding.

“I think my first day off is Tuesday.”

“Perfect, let's start meeting on tuesdays then.” Deanna said, pushing her plate closer to the center of the table. “Well, I hate to dine and dash, but it is late, I should turn in for the night.” She yawned, then stood up and pushed in her seat. “I’ll see the two of you later.”

I barely had any time to protest her leaving us alone, let alone manage a goodbye.

“Is Deanna always like this?” I sat back in my chair, also pushing my plate of food away. I hadn’t finished quite all of it, but I was done eating for the moment.

“She generally is a lot more poised than this. But sometimes she can be playful outside of work.”

Playful, huh. That was quite the word choice. 

“Oh, do you and Deanna hang out much outside of work?” I didn’t quite mean to antagonize him. Though, I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t at least somewhat interested in knowing if he was still attached to her. Deanna claimed otherwise, but you never really know what other feelings someone else is harboring. Then again, she is betazoid, so what do I know?

“Why do you want to know?” Riker replied, smiling smugly.

“Is a girl not allowed to be curious?”

“Of course she is.” Will leaned in closer to me, “I like a curious type.”

“Oh gosh, you really are that much of a flirt.” I could feel the warmth creeping up my face, and I could only hope that he hadn’t been able to notice it.

“Is that such a bad thing?”

“Hm. I don’t really think so.” By this point, I had finished my second ale, setting the empty bottle down by my half finished plate. “It is getting really late though, and my first watch starts at 7 tomorrow morning.”

“Then perhaps you’d allow me to escort you back to your quarters then, Miss Harper?” He said, standing up, and holding out his arm for me.

“I think I can allow that.” My sentence was playful, and I couldn’t help the wide grin that found its way onto my face. I stood up, pushed in my chair behind me, and took his arm.

I let him walk me out of ten-forward, prying eyes watching us every step of the way. It wasn’t a very long walk between where we were and my quarters, but we chatted along the way. I had to admit, he was really charming. And handsome. While our conversation had been kept PG, there was certainly an air of tension between us. And not in a bad way.

We reached my quarters far quicker than I had hoped for. We stood outside, and for a moment I contemplated inviting him inside. Hell, he almost seemed like he wanted to come in too. But I quickly reminded myself that it was my first night aboard, and sleeping with the first officer of my new assignment would definitely ruffle some feathers. I thanked him for walking me back, and gave a disappointing, for both of us, goodbye. 

As soon as I was on the other side of the doors, I deeply sighed. It’s been a long day. I resolved to take a quick sonic shower, redressing myself in a pair of silky pink pajamas, and putting myself to bed. I asked the computer to set an alarm to wake me up at 0600 hours. I laid in bed for a while, trying my best to push the anxieties of the day, and my overall situation, out of my head. It was past midnight that I finally drifted off.


	2. February

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to go ahead and put a note here for something I've realized people might be confused about. Rankings in this fic might seem little skewed. Laura Harper has just been promoted to a junior grade lieutenant. Some people might consider this too low of a rank for a head of communications position, but, Worf was actually also a junior-grade Lieutenant upon taking the role of chief security officer, and is promoted to a full lieutenant in 2366 at the beginning of season 3, when this story takes place.

I am not, and never have been, a morning person. So, when the loud and shrill sound of the computer reminded me of the alarm I set last night before bed, I was less than impressed. I quickly spoke to silence that damn ringing. I pulled the covers over my head and layed with my eyes shut for a while. Ideally, I would’ve fallen back asleep, but it just wasn’t happening. I sat up, wiping the sleep from my eyes. Actually, it wouldn’t have been great if I fell back asleep, considering I didn’t have another alarm set, and I cannot afford to be late for my first watch. 

I pushed the blankets off of me, standing and stretching my sleepy muscles. I was pretty much on autopilot as I made my way to my new bathroom. I grabbed a fresh uniform on my way, setting it besides the small sink. My sonic shower was brief, but refreshing. I didn’t much care for a proper water shower. Something about it felt almost barbaric. I understand the appeal of having a physical abrasion to help you feel clean, but I doubt it did nearly as good of a job.

When I had finished, I stood naked in my bathroom. I picked up my uniform, and before deciding to dress, I took a moment to study the new pips to put on my collar. It was nice to finally have a promotion after the years of hard work I put in as an ensign.

I always felt like I was behind during my service on the Juneau. While my peers and I all graduated and took to the ship at the same time as young ensigns, I was the last to move up in the ranks. I always had this idea that as soon as I graduated from the academy, that people would be more understanding of my goals in Starfleet, but was the same. And why did I expect it to be different? The officers commanding the Juneau were not as old as those that taught at the academy, and those at the academy still thought poorly of me. And if they didn’t think poorly of me, they at least pitied me. I’m not sure if the pity was because they feared how poorly my choices might dictate how I was treated, or if they thought I was just plain stupid. Probably a mix of the two. 

And how could they be wrong but to feel that why? It seemed every great diplomat before me, not just those in Starfleet, didn’t start with that goal. It was always someone who had served in some other line of work, like an old leader who could now longer serve, or a scientist that moved up in the ranks and fell into that position because they were so admired. 

We look back on our written history and see the icons of those times, and pity them now, because they were somehow inferior because they knew less about their world, and the science around them. We think we’ve finally achieved the great task of fixing the individual's problems. There’s no homophobia, racism is a thing of the past, money doesn’t run our lives anymore. But for each man, they’re not perfect. And if the inhabitants of our existence aren’t perfect, how can we expect the system to be perfect? 

There are still those that claim to be fair, and that every man is created equal. But as soon as they step down from their podium and glance at the sign-language interpreter that was speaking in tandem with him, he pities them, he pities them for not doing the noble thing. He pities him for not doing something he considers worthwhile.

I pulled on the wretched jumpsuit uniform, cursing the person at Starfleet headquarters that decided women need to wear a one piece while men could hear a shirt and trousers. I guess there's a few remnants of our past still lingering in us there. And at the very least, it would solve the issue of trying to zipper it up by yourself.

I braided my hair in a french braid. Even when it was done like this, it reached the small of my back. I stared at my face in the mirror, no longer hidden in the front pieces of my hair. I always had a strong interest in genealogy as well, which prompted my poor mother to ask why I couldn’t study that instead. But my heart was elsewhere. But it was still intriguing to look at one’s own features and see the remnants of generations past.

I noted the observations while applying makeup to my face. On my mother's side, the people were, ethnically at least, Chinese, but my mother would tell me as a child that her family more accurately inhabited the area known as Myanmar on Earth. I could see those distinctions in my dark hair, dark eyes, high cheekbones, and generally flat profile. I also have them to thank for my chest, which I swear is more reminiscent of a pre-pubescent child’s size.

My father’s people were a much wider group of Europeans. It’s hard to trace it back to one place, like we can on my mother's side. But despite this, the evidence is still prominent in my features. The paler skin, double eyelids, and heart shaped face all lend themselves to my Caucasian ancestors. I also have them to thank for my backside, which would be usually lovely, If it weren’t for the fact that I see it and curse my parents for making my top and bottom half look so mismatched. Beauty is supposedly all about proportion and symmetry, but thinking about that makes me too self conscious. 

I wasn’t really satisfied with how I had made up my own face, but it was not exactly the time to sit and play in my makeup.

“Computer, what is the ship’s time?”

“The current time is 0600 hours and 26 minutes” 

‘Great,’ I thought to myself, ‘just enough time for breakfast.’

Another reason I was delighted with myself for not sleeping in too late is that it left me with enough time to eat before I had to leave. I had a very bad habit of being cranky if I was hungry. And today was not the day to let my hunger get the best of me. I walked over to the replicator, pausing for a moment to think before requesting a jianbing dish with rice.

When the computer was finished replicating my food, I brought it over to the small table in my quarters. I sat down and dug in. The replicators did a really good job, I could never really tell the difference between real thing and the replicated stuff. Though, I’m sure there’s something special about actually going through the effort to prepare food yourself. Sadly, with my line of work, there’s little time or opportunity for such luxury. I ate my food quickly, my stomach remembering the fact that I didn’t finish my dinner last night.

I recycled my dishes after I had cleaned them off completely. I slipped on my shoes, and grabbed my comm badge, pinning it to the material just above my left breast.

“Computer, what time is it?”

“The current time is 0600 hours and 48 minutes”

Perfect. Just enough time to make it to the comm… office? Area? Department? I’m not entirely sure what to call it. I walked back to my bathroom, brushing my teeth and giving myself a small spritz of perfume. My favorite scents are some of the few personal touches I brought with me onto the ship. I ordered the computer to shut down all the lights as I headed out. The walk from my quarters to the comm..area, was rather short. It might’ve actually been intentional now that I think about it. 

The first thing I see when I walk in is a small reception area. The general atmosphere of the room was unassuming, just like the rest of the ship. There were a few bits of furniture, including seats and to either side, two doors, one to the right and another on the back wall, and the only occupant of this room was sitting straight ahead. There was a large L shaped desk that had a large computer, and many bits and pieces of stationary strewn about. The person in question was a woman, she looked younger than me. She had a very sweet appearance, a round face, round doll-like eyes with long and delicate lashes, and pouty round lips. Her hair was a golden blonde, almost strawberry color, that fell past her shoulders in loose curls. I couldn’t see much else due to her sitting behind the desk, but she seemed to be of about average proportion, if not a touch on the petite side.

I walked up to the desk, clearing my throat.

“Hi, I’m Lieutenant Harper.”

She broke her gaze away from what she was working on when I made noise, I can only assume I had spooked her.

“You’re Lieutenant Harper..?” She seemed scared for a moment, “Oh gosh, was that today? I thought you were coming tomorrow.” She looked up at me apologetically. Right. I’m her commanding officer now. Hm.

“I’m reporting for my first duty shift, Lieutenant Worf mentioned that I was supposed to be stationed with another officer at the moment, do you know where said individual might be?”

A light bulb seemed to go off above her head.

“Oh yeah, um, Lieutenant Jackson is in the office, through those doors.” She pointed to the doors behind and to the side of the desk, giving me a nervous smile.

“Are you alright, Ensign..?”

She seemed choked up trying to respond to me “Ensign Hart, Sir, uh, my name is Beatrice too. I’m sorry.”

“Everything is okay, Beatrice.” I gave her a smile and stepped around the desk to enter the office. I guess I wasn’t surprised to find out that this back area was much sloppier than the reception area, but whoever was working here really did not maintain it well. 

“So, you must be the new girl?”

My head snapped quickly to my left where I saw a man standing at a computer panel, turn towards me. “Im Lieutenant Landon Jackson, nice to meet you.” I saw him eye me up and down, and feeling it gave me made me nauseous.

“Lieutenant Harper, I’m the new head of Comm.”

I thought I saw him roll his eyes at me, but I brushed it off and gave him the benefit of the doubt that a piece of dust, or perhaps an eyelash, got stuck in his eye. He walked over to another large desk with a computer panel, and started pressing keys quickly. “Well, I’ll save you the formalities since I’m sure you’re already well aware of how our computer systems work, or else you wouldn’t have gotten the job, right?” He gave me a smile that seemed almost passive aggressive in nature. “And I’m sure you’re also knowledgeable about your duties, but since it’s early in the week, and we just got order from Starfleet, I’ll give you a quick synopsis-” He turned the com panel to face me, pointing at the screen, “the next week or so our orders are mostly explorative of natural phenomenons, so you’ll be in charge of doing more clerical work, I know there is a bunch of officer reports that still needs to be read and passed along to the appropriate department heads, you also need to look through the crew complaints, see what you need to do in order to resolve them, maybe take a meeting or two, but yeah, I’m sure you got the hang of it.

He pulled the computer screen back towards him, and pressed a few more buttons before standing up straight, and stretching. He passed me on his way out, and gave me an almost too firm, singular pat on the back. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”, and then promptly walked out of the room.

I could feel the anger boiling inside of me as I whipped around and followed him back out into the main room, “Hey! Where do you think you’re going? Lieutenant Worf said you’d be stationed with me for at least this week!”   
Okay, this time he definitely rolled his eyes at me, and added in a scoff to go with it this time, “Look, I’m sure you can handle it, Lieutenant Harper.” He turned and immediately walked completely out of the office. 

I was absolutely flabbergasted. I expected to not be as well liked because of my circumstances, but I guess my positive interactions with Deanna, Beverly, and Riker had distracted me from that reality. I slowly turned towards Beatrice, my mouth hanging open. She looked right back at me, then quickly ducked her head, pretending she was busy with whatever she was working on.

“Can you believe him? What’s his issue?” I leaned against the desk, taking a moment to collect myself, and slowly I relaxed, my face feeling less hot.

“He was also up for this position, Lieutenant.”

I stared at Beatrice, absorbing what she had said. Yeah, that would make sense. Jealousy. He probably made those comments about how I understood everything because he felt they thought his skills were inferior. 

“And if you ask me, he’s also kind of a chauvinist. I’m not sure how that can still be a thing in this day and age, but humanity will never cease to amaze me.” Beatrice refocused on what she was working on on the computer. I stood up, rubbing my temples. I should probably be reporting his insubordination to Lieutenant Worf. The idea of that made me cringe, though. It was my first day, and to already tattle on someone might leave a bad impression. “Whatever, I don’t need his help.”

I turned on my heels and headed back into the office. He was right, I could handle this on my own. I took a moment to get a better look at my surroundings. Much of the Enterprise looked the same. Sleek white and grey designs and an abundance of computer panels. If this was going to be my new office, I should work on making it look a little cozier. I sat for a moment imagining what that could be like. It was very monochromatic, so naturally, the first order of business would be to add some color to this place. Oh! A good, temporary and classy way to do that would be to have some plants in here. I resolved that after my shift was over I could visit the arboretum, finally. 

I’ve probably spent too much time thinking about the decorative needs of this office. I sat down in the seat behind the desk, deciding that I should probably do some productive work.

-

It had been hours. I’m not entirely sure how many it had been. It’s felt like an eternity, but according to the ship’s time, I only had about another two hours to go before the second watch was here. And I’ll certainly be glad when they do. That jerk who was here before was at least honest when he said things were really behind here. I went through reading and approving what felt like thousands, but was probably closer to a couple dozen different crew reports, and sent them on a subspace message to the appropriate individuals, and sorted them into the computer’s logs, cross referencing them where necessary. 

All of this made me question who was running this before me. I’m sure promotions had to happen very quickly after the Security Officer’s passing, which could lead to lots of confusion and maybe less productivity, but the amount of work that’s piled up is more in line with it just being ignored for a while. I assumed that Lieutenant Jackson was placed here temporarily before they actually decided to give the position to me. Maybe when he discovered they were giving the placing to someone who wasn’t him, he stopped caring? Or maybe did this to spite whoever stepped into the position. I thought about my temptation to report him earlier when he was short with me and walked out. I ultimately decided against it again. My first reasoning of not wanting to be a tattle tale still stands. However, I also didn’t have any solid proof that the comm backup was his fault, or even intentional. It’d be better not to go around throwing blind accusations at people. 

I was brought out of my concentration by a door chime, and answered it quickly. At this point, my brain was surely fried, and I could use this distraction. To my surprise, a very friendly individual entered my office. The most striking things about him were a sleek visor that covered his eyes, and a wide smile. 

“Lieutenant Harper, it’s nice to finally meet you.” he reached his hand out for me to shake it, which I promptly stood and returned. 

“You must Lieutenant La Forge, It’s nice to meet you too.”

“It’s okay, call me Geordi.”

“Laura.” I replied.

He was very nice, and there was something about his demeanor that was very casual. He wasn’t as intimidating as all the other men I had met on this ship. This was maybe due in part to being smaller, but in no way petite. He also had a wide, friendly smile. There was also no visible eyes to have to make contact with, which, while unfortunate, kinda helped.

“I just finished pushing through the crew reports, well, yours anyway. I sent another copy of the engineering staff’s logs to you, it should be waiting in your inbox.”

“That’s great to hear, They had been sitting there for a week already, I thought I’d never see them.” He laughed, which was very warm, and I couldn’t help but join him.

“Me neither, and I’m not even done yet, and I’ve been at it since.. Well, basically since I reported this morning. I had a fun run in with the communications staff before I could even sit down.”

He seemed concerned for a moment, then gave me a sympathetic look, “I wouldn’t let Landon get under your skin, he felt entitled to a position he wasn’t nearly qualified for. He’s one of those guys that will try to take any position he hears of, regardless of his skill or interest just so he can climb the ranks as quickly as possible.”

I sighed, “That makes sense. He went on this weird tangent about how I, of course, knew everything there was about this position and basically stormed out of here. He also called me a tiger, which, I think considering I’m Burmese, I could get him in trouble for racial slurs, but I’m not that big of a jerk.”

Geordi laughed, “Is that why he’s not here right now?”

“Yep, I have no idea where he went, and frankly, I’m not sure I care.” I sat back in my seat, crossing my legs, and resting my folded hands on top of them.

“And you’re not reporting his insubordination? You guys might be the same rank, but you’re also the Chief of Communications, you’re above him.”

“You know, Geordi, I’m not really concerned with him. I know I can handle doing this by myself. I’ve already done more work in this one day than what's been done this past week apparently. “

“Just don't let Worf find out, he might not be too happy.”

“I thought about that, but then again, I also thought about how it might look if I sat and tattled on people on my very first day on the job, you know? Either way, I’m not worried about it.”

He shrugged, “That’s a fair point, Laura. I’m sorry people haven’t been as nice as you’d hope on your first day.”

“You know, actually, Besides him, people have been rather nice. Worf was a bit short, but not rude or unpleasant. I met with Doctor Crusher, and she was really sweet, but she was also busy so there wasn’t too much conversation happening. I also had dinner yesterday with Counselor Troi and Commander Riker, they were both really welcoming, too.”

“Ah, dinner with the Rikers, sounds like a joy.”

I thought that over for a moment. Deanna had told me that she had, at one point, a relationship with said William Riker, but now Geordi is referring to them as if they were a married couple.

“The Rikers? I wasn’t aware that they were together. Actually the impression that I got when I spent time with both of them yesterday was that they were very not together, in fact.”

“For now, maybe. That’s kind of their thing. On and off. One day they're intense and inseparable, the next day they’re doing their own things. It is a little weird, but it’s them, and if they're happy, what should it matter to anyone else, right?”

I thought back to the end of my night last night. I was this close to trying to sleep with Riker. Deanna had assured me that she wouldn't mind if I shoot my shot, but now I’m not sure. She might’ve very well changed her mind about that idea when she and her apparent lover were back on the upswing of things. I am now very grateful I chose to just go to sleep last night. I must’ve mentally wandered off in thought, because the sound of Geordi speaking again startled me. 

“Anyway, I wish this was just a casual visit, but I did have other concerns that I came here with.”

“Oh, okay, um, what’s the matter?”

“Well, I have Ensign Park, she’s been requesting a transfer out of engineering for a while now, and I’ve denied her twice. She is wonderful when it comes to working on the ship, she’s very smart and dependable. And In addition to those, admittedly selfish reasons for denying her, there’s just no other position that’s really suitable for her available. All the science positions are filled, and she doesn’t qualify for a helm position quite yet.”

“Has she expressed interest in another department? If she wanted to be somewhere specific I’m sure I could put in a word for her, or maybe speak about opening a new position elsewhere.”

“See, that’s the thing, she really hasn’t. She’ll go anywhere given the opportunity.”

I sat up in my chair, pulling my legs underneath me in the seat, and reaching up to tap my fingers on my chin. 

“You know, maybe it’s not a problem that she’s in engineering, maybe it’s another ensign, or perhaps a supervisor that is giving her issues and making her want to switch departments.”

“You know what, I think you may be on to something.” Geordi stood, adjusting his uniform top down from where it had ridden up while he was sitting. I, likewise, stood up from my seat. 

“I’ll keep an eye out for anything that might seem suspicious. Thanks, Laura.” I walked around the desk, to give him another handshake, “Of course, Geordi. Let me know if you figure anything else out. I’ll see if I can get ahold of Counsellor Troi, we’ll figure something out.” I saw him out of the office, giving him another warm smile and quick goodbye when he stepped out. I sat back down at my desk, releasing a deep breath, and focusing back on the computer panel. I tried for a moment to get back to reading, but a small break from doing so made me realize how much my eyes were stinging. 

I turned off the computer screen, “Computer, what is the ship’s time.”

“The current time is 1300 hours and 53 minutes.”

That means I have an hour and 7 minutes left. 

I pulled my legs up, sitting crossed legged in the seat. I closed my eyes for a moment, waiting for the burning in them to subside before opening them again to look at this plain, boring office I was in. Sometimes I envied the bridge officers, or the scientists whose work involved doing something physical, or something that didn’t involve staring at a screen all day. Eye strain was not a fun thing to deal with. But, I knew I wouldn’t be happy anywhere else on this ship. My work meant way too much to me.

I was supposed to be set here until 3 pm, but did that really mean I had to sit in this office? If I was doing work related things that just so happened to not be in this office, that would still count, right? And worse case scenario, Beatrice was still here and could alert me if there was anything that needed my immediate attention while I was out. I couldn’t fool myself by trying to contemplate the pros and cons of the situation, I had already made up my mind that I couldn’t look at those reports anymore. I stood and walked out, to which Ensign Hart seemed almost surprised, she hadn’t seen me since I arrived after all. Oh yeah, most people would stop to take a break, huh?

“Beatrice,” I leaned against the desk, taking a quick glance at what she was working on, she had her PADD in front of her, which had a large slew of text on it, and the computer panel displayed personnel assignments. “I’m gonna go run some errands real quick, I shouldn’t be gone too long, but don’t hesitate to com if you need something while I’m away.”

I smiled at her and turned away, and had taken a few steps towards the door, before I had a thought. I paused and turned back towards Beatrice, “And, please download the list of current Engineering personnel, and get me the most recent crew evaluation for each person, please.”

She seemed puzzled by my request, but agreed nonetheless. 

I took my leave, and tried to figure out the quickest way to get to the counselor's office.

-

It was about a 15 minutes walk that I managed to get there, which is surprising, because I was never really sure the entire time that I was even going in the right direction. I pressed the doorbell and was soon granted access into Deanna’s office. She greeted me with a wide smile.

“Laura, it’s nice to see you, but I thought our appointment wasn’t until next week. Unless, something happened last night that you want to talk about.” She gave me a mischievous grin. Oh, she was talking about Riker. The same Riker she was in a weird on again off again relationship with. Why was she being like this?

“No, I went straight back to my quarters last night and went to bed alone. I’m not here on a personal matter, it’s business, strictly so if anyone questions my whereabouts.”

Deanna gave me a confused look. Maybe it was because I didn’t respond well to her insinuations. Or maybe it was about my being clear about where I was. 

“Laura, I didn’t mean to anger you in any way. Did something happen last night that upset you?”

I took a deep breath, trying to soothe the irritation that I could feel beginning to bubble inside of me. 

“No, Deanna, nothing happened last night, not with Riker and not with anybody. Please drop it.” I sat down in the chair opposite of her, and took a moment to shake myself of the anger. She seemed to sense my relaxing, because she mimicked my slouched posture, and smiled at me.

“Anyway, Deanna, Geordi came to me about some concerns with some of his faculty, and Ensign Park has been requesting to be transferred for a bit now, he said he’s denied her transfer twice on the grounds of her being an amazing engineer, and that there’s not really any other science-based positions available. Well, upon further discussion, she doesn’t really have any clear goals of where she might want to be instead of engineering, which leads me to believe that it’s not the position itself that’s troubling her, but maybe someone else she’s working with.”

Deann looked to the side for a moment, before nodding, “Yes, Jisoo Park. She seems generally well liked, so I can’t provide any insight into if there might be anyone she doesn’t get along with, but I do agree with your assessment that that is the next place you should look. What is your next course of action?”

“Well, I asked Geordi to keep an eye out for her, firstly, so that we can see who she interacts with most frequently, and the nature of those relationships. I also asked for the last set of crew evaluations for engineering, and I’ll pick up those for whoever Geordi notes Jisoo is closer to, and we’ll work from there. Other than that, I wanted to ask if you would mind speaking with her? We can observe all we want, but we won’t really understand what’s happening and how to fix it until we know her side of things and what's really going on.”

“I think that’s a great idea. I’ll look at scheduling an appointment with her.However, Laura, until we figure out what's really going on, we should see about moving her elsewhere temporarily.”

“I agree, but from what Geordi said, there wasn’t really another place for her to be.”

Deanna chuckled softly, “I think that really means there's no place Geordi would rather her be. She’s a good worker, and I’m sure he doesn't want to see her travel too far.” Deanna paused for a moment, and gave me a brilliant look, “Why don’t you see about maybe pulling her over to Comm for a while? I’m sure if you explained to Commander Riker the situation, and the given fact that you could use the extra hand while you get used to your new role, that’d he’d consider approving the transfer.”

I thought about it. I didn’t really want to talk to Commander Riker. I should’ve known better last night than to let myself be so casual with him, now I can’t approach him as the second officer of the ship because I’m torn between being attracted to him and having the knowledge that he and Deanna are involved in some way. I could go straight to Lieutenant Worf, I’d hate to go above his head, but he hasn’t been the friendliest. And that isn’t likely to get transfers approved. There is also the whole ‘not reporting subordination’ thing fresh on my plate. I guess I will have to swallow my pride for this one. 

“I guess I could ask him about approving her transfer to Comm. If she’ll still want to go that is.”

“I think it’s good for them to have to work in a not strictly science field once in a while. If you spend all your years with your head buried in physics and wires, what are you gonna eventually do when you’re promoted and have to oversee people? It’s all about balancing skills.”

“I mean, it’s true. My specialization is diplomacy but I still had to learn basic warp drive operations in the academy.” 

We shared a laugh, I finally had completely cooled off from what Geordi had told me earlier. I think if there was still something going on between Deanna and Will, that they would’ve made that clear if they wanted me to know, and otherwise, will forgive me if I accidentally step in between them and cause problems. I have to remember that we’re all adults, and allowed to do our own things. Even if some people haven’t matured beyond grade school, I know I can trust Deanna and Will. 

“Well, I’ll let Geordi know about all this, and work my way towards talking to Riker about all this.” 

“Also, Laura, you know you are free to leave the office. Having a set shift for you to be there is more for the purpose of scheduling other people to be there. It might feel like you need to be there a lot now because I’m sure you have a lot of work to do, but generally speaking, if you’re doing something relating to your job, you’re free to leave for a short while, just as you did today. That is a perk of being a department head.”

I shook my head, acknowledging her insight. Then, I stood, giving Deanna a short smile and goodbye before heading back towards the comm station. 

-

I walked in to find Beatrice with her nose still buried in her PADD. As soon as she noticed my return, though, she placed it down hurriedly, and spoke “Lieutenant Harper, I gathered those evaluations for you, and sent them through.”

“Beatrice, you’re doing a great job.”

She seemed almost surprised to be paid a compliment, and once she deduced I wasn’t being sarcastic or insincere, her face lit up, “Thank you, Sir!.”

I walked back into my office, plopping down in my seat. I took my time drafting a message to Geordi, detailing the conversation I had with Deanna, minus all the Riker-centric bits, and informed him that I gathered crew evaluations so that when he got some answers about who she interacts with most, I can cross reference that. I hit send, knowing he would probably not see this until he checked his messages when he was free later tonight. 

“Computer, what is the ship’s time?”

“The current time is 1400 hours and 46 minutes.”

Perfect. 14 minutes left until I was finally off. I took this last bit of time to check the backlogs of work I had. I deduced that I could probably finish on the back logs and reports by midday tomorrow. In addition, I had around 8 complaint files to move through, and a variety of other reports I should brush myself up on, like recently completed complaints and the last few duty reports, but those items on my to-do list were minuscule compared to the herculean task of catching up on officer logs and mission reports. I noted all of these in my personal notes, and wrote up an end of shift report, adding those figures in. I yawned as I finally shut the computer panel down, stretching my arms up in the air, and listening to the symphony of crackle that resulted from the beautiful like of working a desk job. I dimmed the lights in my office, and entered the lobby. 

Beatrice was now standing on the other side of the desk, speaking with another young ensign. The two were quite different in appearance. Where Beatrice had long golden hair that looked shiny and soft, the woman standing opposite of her has dark auburn, almost burgundy hair, that was left in its naturally kinky curly texture. The woman had a deep olive complexion which contrasted with Beatrice’s bright, almost white skin.

They both turned towards me, with the new ensign immediately holding her hand out.

“Ensign Spencer, Sir. I will be holding second watch now.”

I looked up at her, smiling. She was quite a bit taller than myself, probably standing 5’9” or 5’10”. She was on the much curvier side, with strong muscles. Her face was friendly, mostly oval in shape with a defined jaw, her lips were plump and her nose slightly wide and flat. Her eyes were an almond shape, and almost black in color, outlined by perfectly shaped and symmetrical eyebrows. She was very pretty, and spoke with kindness. 

After Beatrice had left, I walked Ensign Spencer, who’s name I learned was Sara, through the bits of stuff I needed her to finish. I stayed until I was sure she had figured out everything that needed to be finished, and I was out of there.

Earlier, I had planned to go straight to the arboretum to see if I could take any plants to my office to help dress it up a bit, but I also didn’t anticipate how tired I would be. I contemplated heading to ten-forward to get food, and maybe a coffee, but I also, genuinely, don’t feel like hanging out with anyone. I could always just head back to my quarters and take a power nap. As long as I’m back up by 5 or so I should have enough time to eat dinner and then swing by the arboretum afterwards.

I made the short walk back to my quarters. I pulled my hair down from its braid, combing through it with my fingers, and massaging my scalp as I went. I stripped down from my uniform, opting to just sleep in my underwear as opposed to putting on a pair of pajamas. I laid down, and pulled the covers all the way up to my shoulders. I asked the computer to set an alarm to wake me up at 4:30 in the afternoon, and to play an ambiance track. The stress of the day laid heavily on my eyelids, and I didn’t have any problems drifting off to sleep.


	3. Moirai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A first day of work is accomplished, a nap is rewarded and regretted, and new faces are introduced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter of fill and fluff, a preparation for getting into the thick of things. Next chapter will see the introduction of canon story from the The Next Generation show.

I am now under the distinct impression that anyone that regularly takes naps is either actually a child, or a liar. The thing about taking naps is that they seem like a really good idea before you decide to take one. You’re sleepy, it's romanticized. You crawl into bed swearing it’ll be just a short while and you’ll wake up and be productive again. I know, I thought the same thing before my alarm started going off an hour after I laid down. 

I’ve tried this before, and it never works out. Despite that, I can’t reason with myself that it won’t go badly again, and I nap. Then, I’m still somehow shocked when I wake up later and feel even worse than when I decided to take a nap. At least this time I didn’t oversleep. 

I pushed my covers off of myself, and checked my PADD to see if I had any messages, which I had none. I stood, stretching my arms above my head and listening to the soft pops of my spine readjusting to being upright. It was a bit chilly in my quarters, so I adjusted the climate controls up a few degrees. I’m sure the temperature it was set at previously would be fine for most people, but I always find myself to be the coldest person in any given room.

I sauntered over to my bathroom, staring at my face in the mirror. I had forgotten to remove my makeup before I fell asleep. It wasn’t horribly smudged though, so I figured I could salvage it by just applying more eyeliner in areas it had been wiped off. I reapplied some lip gloss, and deemed my face to look “good enough”. I got dressed again into a high-waisted denim skirt, and a mauve t-shirt tucked in. I slipped on a pair of ankle boots with a short heel.

Even though it was often dismissed as ‘too girly’ for this line of work, I liked to use fashion as an outlet. It was one of the few things in your life you could control about your appearance. I always just enjoyed looking cute. It made me feel better about parts of myself that I might not be as fond of. 

I brushed my hair again, but with a real hair brush this time. I let it just lay in loose waves down my back. I found myself to be too lazy to try and do anything with it. I was eventually satisfied with my appearance. I slipped my PADD and comm badge inside of a shoulder bag, checked the time, which was 5:15, and slipped it over my head as I was walking out of my quarters.

I still didn’t have an idea of the layout of the ship. I could probably make it to the comm office without help, but I definitely needed help finding the arboretum. I found myself repeatedly asking the computer for directions. At one point in time it lit up a pathway for me to follow. 

Arriving at the arboretum was a beautiful sight. It almost gave me whiplash to transition from the gray and dull interior of the ship to this bright green and flora lush space. I took a few steps in to get a better view. I didn’t even know where to begin. Firstly, I wasn’t sure what I could take, or what I should put in the office. Or my quarters. It would be nice to decorate my own space too. Well, I should just stick to one project at a time.

“Hi, is there something I could do for you?”  
I was startled slightly by the sound of a woman's voice. After glancing around, I discovered that the source of the greeting was another young woman, she was slim, and dressed in a set of dark green cover all’s and other gardening attire. “I’m Keiko, Welcome.”

I walked up closer to her. Her face was very pretty. Her features were similar to mine, but had evidence of maybe a slightly more eastern origin. Her name was also evident of that hunch. 

“Oh, um, My name is Laura Harper, I’m actually the new comm officer, I was just wandering around, I, uh, I wanted to look at bringing some green things into my office.”

I probably would have phrased that better, but a certain anxiety suddenly hit me when I realized how out of place I felt. I can’t hold it against myself, I was still fairly new to this place. I wish I adjusted easier to being in new places. Homesickness isn’t something I get over quickly. Not to mention the additional pressure of being a higher-ranking officer now. 

“Oh! Yeah! I heard that you were finally gonna show up. When did you get here?”

I had to think about that a moment. I believe it was yesterday morning, but the amount of anxiety and experiences I had was more reminiscent of several weeks having passed. I confirmed with her that, yes, I’ve been here for only about a day. She almost seemed amused by the fact that I paused to answer her.

“It’s been lovely so far though, well, except the interior of this place. I guess I notice it here because this ship is so large, but I didn’t really have much of the same issue on my other stations. I’m not really sure what I want though. I really like plants but I don’t really have a gift for picking them out, I usually just grab whatever looks pretty.”

“I can totally help you, that’s what I’m here for.” Keiko gave me a warm smile. 

We spent the next bit of time going through different types of plants I could keep in there. We decided that, because it’s an office, it should generally be lower maintenance. Because of this we settled on mostly planters full of succulents. I picked out a potted anthurium plant, and a large yucca to go with it. 

Keiko was even nice enough to help me bring everything over to my new office. I quickly introduced her to Sara, who was quite surprised to see me back in the office. I had to spend the next bit of time arranging everything by myself, as my new friend had to report back to the arboretum. The large yucca was placed inside my office right by the door. I scattered the smaller plants out on available shelf and desk space. I ended up not really having room for all of the plants I had brought.

I’d feel too embarrassed to have to march them back, and I don’t really want to lug them all the way to my quarters after bringing them all the way to the office. I thought about it for a moment. I got a sudden idea that made me almost verbally call out with joy as I made my way to the replicator.

It was maybe an hour and a half or so that I sat on the floor of my office. I tied knot after knot. I wasn’t exactly an expert in macrame, but I could fashion something that would work just fine to hang the excess plants from the ceiling. I stood, admiring my work. It never fails to surprise me how much little touches can do to brighten up a space. 

As excited as I was to have this space now, I couldn’t wait until I was slated for bridge assignments. Up until this point, the chief of security had been acting as a stand in communications officer, and while I’m sure that that had worked for the time being, it’s not quite the same. I left the back office once I had decided I was done admiring my work. Sara was keeping herself busy with small clerical work, and I made sure to say goodbye to her as I left. 

The office doors opened, and I was immediately greeted with the broad figure of a Lieutenant Worf. I looked straight up at him, side stepping out of his way. 

“Lieutenant Harper, you are aware you were scheduled for the beta shift, meaning you were to be relieved at 1500 hours.”

I paused for a moment. Seriously, I could not be getting reprimanded on my first day for being here past hours. “Yes, I am aware. I ceased duty at that time.” I looked away from him, choosing to look straight ahead towards his chest. “However, I was still here, working on unofficial business past that time. My apologies.”

Worf scoffed, I could feel his eyes piercing into me, even if I wasn’t looking.

“And what business would that be, Lieutenant Harper?”

I thought, do I reiterate that it was personal? Would he be upset with me for decorating my office? I mean, surely he’d prefer to hear that I was doing this on my own time as opposed to duty hours. “I was decorating my office, sir.”

He didn’t flinch at my answer. He simply accepted it with a grunt. “And Lieutenant Jackson?”

Oh. I had almost forgotten about that unpleasant interaction this morning. “He has already left, Sir.”

Well, I guess I wasn’t technically lying to him. I will just conveniently not mention that he had left early this morning, and not more recently. He seemed to accept this answer. He quietly dismissed me and walked into the comm office. I shook the encounter off, and started my way back to my quarters. 

The first thing I did was toss my shoulder bag onto my small coffee table. I pulled my PADD out from it, and started sorting through communications. I had received a subspace message from my mother late last night, but hadn’t taken the time to read it quite yet.

‘Laura, I hope your travels were safe, and that you are settling down fine on the Enterprise. I wanted to send you a message to remind you just how much I love you. Even if this new assignment means you have to be away for so much longer, I know how much your work means to you. Whatever tribulations you might face, remember you are there because you worked hard for it, and you deserve this position.”

The message prattled on for a little longer, with simple updates about my mother’s work, Tammy’s studies at UCLA, and even keeping up with the family cat’s, Stuffy, activities. It was hard being away from everyone for so long, but I knew that this would be part of the job when I signed up for it. The more I thought about it though, the more I came to realize that even being on such a large ship was lonely. I’d only been here only for 2 days, but, I still felt eager, or, more accurately rushed, to make friends. I didn’t want to be the person who simply worked, then hid in their quarters until it was time to report for duty again.

I patted the tears off my face, and continued thumbing through other notifications. None of them were particularly interesting, small messages here and there from friends, sending their congratulations on the promotion, and an appointment confirmation from Deanna. 

It was getting quite late. It had gotten to be around 7:30 in the evening. I still hadn’t eaten dinner yet, even though it was kind of late for a meal. I sat my PADD down on it’s charging station, and checked my appearance in the mirror to double check that I hadn’t cried all of my makeup off. I set off for ten-forward, deeming companionship needed.

I wasn’t sure who would even be there still, but I shouldn’t get in the habit of eating all of my meals in my quarters. It was quite late for a meal, but I had also taken a nap earlier. Hunger doesn’t count when you’re sleeping, right? Either way, I think the purpose of eating dinner earlier is making sure you are not eating too close to the time that you went to bed. And, also considering that I took a nap earlier, I figured that I wouldn’t be sleeping too early tonight anyway.

I entered ten-forward, and to my surprise, it wasn’t too vacant. I looked around, trying to find a smaller table, out of the way. My eyes landed on the singular familiar face. I made my way over to the young man I remembered to be Geordi. He was very kind and funny when we spoke earlier. He was accompanied by another….person?

I didn’t recognize this individual, but their pale golden skin, and bright gold eyes stood out to me. I wouldn’t say that’s quite human at all, but everything else about him looked such.

The walk across ten-forward was a short one, and Geordi noticed me before I had finished my trek over to him, and called out for me, “Laura, come sit!.”

“Oh, hey!” I took his offer, taking a seat next to him, and across from his friend. Luckily, I had caught them before they had ordered their food as well. 

“Laura, this is Data. Data, this is Lieutenant Laura Harper, she’s the new communication officer.”

The person, now identified as Data, turns to me, and offers a friendly greeting. “Yes, I was informed of your arrival. Welcome aboard the Enterprise, Lieutenant.”

Wait.

Data? 

Oh.

Could it be? This man is the same Data I've heard about, the Soong-type android officer?

Honestly, I was aware that an android had graduated from the academy, but you are never quite prepared to be confronted with him in person. He looked so human. His form was incredibly detailed, and if I’m being honest, quite handsome as well. I realized at this moment that I had spent a great deal of time simply staring at him, and I had to snap myself back into reality.

“Thank you, Data, you can just call me Laura.” I gave him a small smile, “It’s quite an honor to meet Starfleet’s first android officer.” Man, this would be the most awkward if I had just mistaken him for the android. A waitress had come to take our orders, and I had given my order first, and took a few moments while my Geordi ordered to study Data’s features. I soon had my attention disrupted, “So Laura, how are things settling?” I redirected my attention back to Geordi, hoping it wasn’t quite obvious I had been staring at his friend. 

“It’s only day two, so, I’m not quite sure how much I can say so far, but it’s been alright. I think I already screwed up my sleep schedule, but that’s negotiable. I’m just glad I know people already.”

Data responded, “Laura, It is recommended for most human adults to obtain an average of 8 hours of sleep per night to be sufficiently rested. Knowing that you are scheduled to begin duty at 0700 hours, I would recommend you to retire at 2200 hours in order to wake at 0600 hours for your shift.” 

“Oh, well, yeah, but it’ll take a few days before I settle into a schedule.” I took a sip of the water that had been brought to me, somehow without my noticing. “And I ended up taking a nap this afternoon, so it’s almost certain that I will be up late tonight.”  
Our food arrived shortly, and Geordi was quick to dig in. “Honestly, I’m just looking forward to having enough back work put in to get some bridge time. Not that I don’t enjoy having my own office.” I smiled, “It seems I’m slated for computer based work for the next eternity.”

The table talk slowed here, as Geordi and I busied ourselves with enjoying our food. I had ordered a simple minestrone soup. I had noticed my appetite hadn't been the greatest, so I was careful not to over serve myself. Before I was finished, Geordi had, and he and Data excused themselves. Data simply stated he needed to prepare himself for working the overnight bridge watch, and Geordi gave me a small explanation of something needing attending to in engineering. He might’ve given me a small explanation of what it was, but it flew over my head. 

Sure, working on star ships required basic understanding of how they worked, but I wouldn't exactly be exaggerating to say that I barely passed my courses pertaining to warp-drive. I was a good student, but technicalities tended to bore me. Nevertheless, I tried to learn it. And soon enough I found myself indulging in my last spoonfuls of soup by myself. Ten-forward had cleared out. Not surprising, considering the late hour. It had been completely vacated of any familiar faces. 

I took my time finishing, and figured while I was there, I’d buss my own table. The walk back to my quarters was a lonely one. Yesterday, all I could focus on was my company. Today, my thoughts echoed around empty walls and empty halls towards empty quarters. Upon entering, I stripped myself of the day’s clothing, opting to lounge in a sports bra and matching leggings. 

“Computer, what is the ship’s time?” 

“”The time is currently 2100 hours.”

Great, if I can manage to fall asleep within the hour, I can meet Data’s suggested bedtime. I ordered a chamomile tea for myself, hoping the soothing smell and taste would help settle me for the night. I hoped, anyway. I checked my PADD one last time for any new messages, of which there were none. They say using electronics right before bed makes it harder to fall asleep, so I dismiss it for the night. I sat on the foot of my bed, being honest with myself that I was, not very tired after all. 

I stood, and made my way over to a small chest of drawers. I hadn’t brought too many personal items on the ship with me, as I find that it just makes it harder to go elsewhere if you have to pack much up. But of the things I did bring, I had stored some of them here. In the bottom most drawer, I had stashed a leather-bound notebook, worn with age. The crude stitching gave good evidence that this journal had been bound by hand, and it was certainly well loved. I brought it out of it’s new home, along with a pen, and made my way over to the table in my quarters.

Ordinarily, people would make their daily logs, if they took them, on the computer system, or otherwise stored them electronically. Which is fine, but there was just something timeless about writing notes by hand. This particular notebook, I had only begun filling up a year or so ago. The rest of my notes were stashed at my mother’s home on Earth. 

I sat at my small table, and turned my notebook open to the nearest blank page. I sat for a moment, my pen hovering over the blank paper for just a moment, and I began to recall the the events of the past few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally an update. I'm sorry to anyone that might've read this back in April and have patiently waiting for an update. Quarantine has been difficult for the author of this fic. This chapter was slightly shortened (5000k words -> 3200k) to prioritize a quicker posting. Please feel free to PM me or comment here if you have any questions. If anyone would like to express interest in new chapters, especially! If i know more people are counting on them, I'll be more motivate to put them out, ha.


	4. Ezekiel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feelings can be complicated, and creep up one you when you're least expecting them. In other news, some well deserved time in the plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As stated last chapter, we begin to introduce canon plot points! This story begins with season 3. Chapter Length: 5108 words

I don't understand why I can’t ever seem to be on a decent sleep schedule. I stayed up way too late last night, scribbling my thoughts down in my journal. I woke up, head down on my desk, to my alarm at 0600 hours. I guess at some time last night I had decided I was going to lay my head down. I didn’t anticipate that I would actually fall asleep right there. I sat up, wiping the drool away from my mouth. Luckily nothing ended up on my journal, but I should be more careful. As I sat up, I felt my spine straighten and a course of pain ran down it. Note to self, sleeping slumped in a chair is not good for your back. You would’ve thought that I had learned this when I was at the academy, but old habits die hard. 

I sat up and pushed my chair in behind me. Luckily I had remembered to set my alarm before I fell asleep last night. I made my way over to my bathroom and took extra care to prepare myself for the day. Today I wore my hair down, using an iron to give it some loose curls. I pin back the shorter pieces of my hair with a small hair pin covered in pearls. I opted not to wear any make-up today. My skin wasn't the best but it wasn't terrible either so going without foundation on it didn't bother me too much. 

The good thing about being in Starfleet is that I don't have to spend precious time worrying about picking out an outfit before work. Sure, during my free time I enjoy fashion, but early in the morning I do not find myself to have the patience to deal with it, plus it just means extra time that I can sleep in. Standard fleet-issue jumpsuit non-slip shoes. After I had finished getting myself dressed I took one last glance in the mirror. I decided that I was going to apply a little bit of mascara after all. Even something as simple as that can really do wonders for enhancing a face. 

I checked the time, and decided I could squeeze in time for a small breakfast of an omelet and bacon. I ate, and then I packed away my journal for some other day. I got my comm badge and secured it to the fabric just above my left breast. I also packed my PADD into my shoulder bag. I never really used it at work but it couldn't help to have it anyway.

I made my way to the comm office. I was still a little bit early but that really never hurt anybody. Ensign Hart was already there, sitting at the desk. She greeted me with a wide smile and a good morning.

"Good morning Lieutenant Harper!"

She really was such a sweet girl. I wave back at her and give her a small smile to let her know that my quietness was simply because I was exhausted and not because I was unfriendly. I under my office and smiled remembering the hard day's work yesterday decorating. 

I sat down at my desk and logged into the computer station there. Just as expected I had a few dozen reports to look over, and several message responses to send. I stopped and I stared at my computer for about 5 minutes before I decided I needed help. I walked over to the small replicator unit in my office and ordered "Vanilla latte, iced."

I was staring at the wall while I was waiting for my coffee order to be ready and maybe it was my distraction or maybe it was my exhaustion that I didn't notice that the replicator was malfunctioning. In fact it wasn't until I lifted the cup to my mouth to take a drink that I realized that I was sipping on a cup of Vulcan ale instead of my iced coffee. I immediately spat it out. I guess not necessarily because it was gross, but when you are surprised, like when you're expecting one flavor and you get another, sometimes it can be unsettling. I sat the mug down and stared at it for a moment. I made a mental note to ask for someone from maintenance to come and look at the replicator. 

I had started to make my back over to my desk, and then the whole ship made a sudden leap. It had almost brought me to the ground. I tripped and almost fell into my desk. The shaking went on for a few moments but I managed to eventually make my way to my seat and check the computer panel. 

Inquiries were flooding in from all departments on the ship. I quickly checked all comm channels to engineering. I saw all sorts of commands, navigation, shields, all unresponsive. I pulled open communications between engineering and the bridge. If I thought I was tired before, this way a good quick scare from the dates to get me up. 

Eventually things began to smooth out again. I took note of a communication from the bridge, a request for medical personnel. I began to draft a shipe-wide notice, advising all personnel that all systems were back to normal. 

I sighed to myself really wishing that I had my coffee at that moment. I exit the office to check on Beatrice. She seems a little shaken up but otherwise fine. 

I spent the next hour or so, going through reports. I had just begun to settle down and get immersed in reading when the red alert went off. I quickly moved over to check out the comm channels. I registered a sensor reading of a Borg vessel. More unresponsiveness from the engine. A registered attack of energy weapons. Suddenly nothing. I looked around. Pausing for a moment, before double-checking all of the communications. I hadn't imagined all of those reports. 

How on Earth could all of this would suddenly be happening and then suddenly not. I felt another shake of the ship. I checked the comm channels for reports. 

Pawn to Bishop Four. Knight to King's Rook Three. Bishop to Queen's Bishop Four. Knight to Knight Five. Queen's Knight to King Two.

Is this…. Chess?

Maybe?  
Engines down.

I sat for a moment, contemplating what all of these readings could even mean. I began to draft up a ship-wide notification when I was interrupted by my comm badge. 

"Riker to Harper"

"Lieutenant Harper here"

"Report to the bridge"

My stomach sank. It was my second day. I wasn't slated for bridge duty for another few weeks, maybe? And here, all this weird stuff was happening. 

"I'm on my way."

I saved what I was working on, before logging back in, and transferring Comm controls to the bridge. I stashed my bag with my PADD in a locked drawer and left the office.

"I'll be on the bridge, hold down the fort."

I gave a quick nod to Beatrice as I walked out the door.

I probably wasn't very timely with my arrival to the bridge. but, I could probably blame that on my unfamiliarity with the ship. It had also just occurred to me that I had been here for several days, and I've yet to go and pay my respects to the captain. Luckily for me, the only officers on the bridge when I arrived were Riker, Data, a few ensigns and…

Oh. 

I noticed a familiar face standing at tactical. Commander Riker noticed my staring and gave me a curious expression. I pulled my eyes away from Lieutenant Jackson, just trying my best to ignore him. Why was he even here right now? He was scheduled to be with me in Communications all week and then suddenly left. I assume during this time that he was just going AWOL, what did he tell Worf about the situation?

I shook those thoughts from my mind, and I approached Riker and reported for duty.

"Take over monitoring communications here on the bridge. Data and I will be in the observation lounge, you have the bridge."

I stared for a moment, and he gave me a cheeky grin. My stomach really sank then, and I saw Lieutenant Jackson roll his eyes out of my peripherals. 

"I have the bridge." 

Is that even when I was supposed to say?? I'm not even entirely sure. maybe at some point in time somebody was supposed to tell me. But, I never anticipated that I would be taking the bridge anytime soon so I never bothered to learn change over procedure. 

Data and Riker made their leave of the bridge and I approached the Comm panel adjacent to tactical. I stood a few feet away from Lieutenant Jackson and logged on to the panel. I could feel his eyes piercing into me, I tried my hardest to focus on my work. He was quiet at first, but I suppose he eventually couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer." 

"So Laura, aren't you quite special? Your third day on the ship and you've been given the bridge."

I stopped breathing for a moment. He really had this way of making my blood boil. I opened my mouth, paused, and took a deep breath before responding. 

"Commander Riker found it necessary to have the communications officer on the bridge, and given that I am the senior-most officer, it fell naturally to me."

He laughed quietly to himself and if that didn't piss me off even more. "I could have handled tactical and communications by myself, it's not like anything super exciting is happening anyway.

"Well for whatever reason Commander Riker disagrees with that"

"Oh yeah? What did you have to do in order to get him wrapped around your little finger?"

I brought my hand down harshly on the comm panel. "That is none of your business, stand down Lieutenant Jackson!"

It was at this point that I had begun to raise my voice. It was also at this point I noticed the turbo lift to the bridge opening. Of course, it was Commander Riker himself, with Data tagging along. Of course.

I cursed quietly to myself, praying that he didn't hear my outburst. I approached him, "Welcome back Commander, you have the bridge again."

"As you were Lieutenant Harper." He gave me a smile, and I sighed with relief that even if he did hear my outburst, he wasn't going to mention it. I made my way back to my station, taking a glance at Lieutenant Jackson out of the corner of my eye, just in time to catch him making a disgusted face at me.

"Lieutenant Jackson, report to security." Riker gave him a smile, and a slight tilt of the head. "You'll be helping run a security sweep." Jackson gave him a nod and an “aye sir”, and logged off of his station. He turned to give me a sneer before leaving the bridge. 

"Ms. Harper, take over at Tactical." 

I stepped over. While I probably wasn't nearly as familiar, there was something satisfying about taking over the spot of someone who has given me nothing but hell since he met me.

I continued to monitor reports. The bridge was mostly quiet, sans the few quiet sounds of computer panels, and the quiet hum of the ship. I could be simply thinking about it too much, but a part of me began to wonder if Lieutenant Jackson was right about some things. Perhaps Commander Riker did call me onto the bridge because of some sort of special interest, as opposed to believing in my abilities. 

He's handsome and he knows it, and I couldn't deny that to myself. But generally speaking relationships between officers were somewhat taboo. Those kinds of power balances getting involved in relationships never seem to turn out well. But, to be fair to myself, Commander Riker was involved in Command, and my department was Communications. So, while he was not actually my direct Superior, something still felt off about it. 

I'll probably have to just deny it for now, but, something about him made my stomach feel like it was full of bees. And I mean that in the best way possible. I smile to myself and focus my attention back on my panels.

A short bit of time had passed, I eventually relinquished control of tactical back to Lieutenant Worf. He arrived back on the bridge along with Counselor Troi, who gave me a warm greeting, and Captain Picard, who seemed to barely acknowledge my existence. Yeah, I realized it had been several days I was on the ship and I had yet to pay my respects to him. Though for some reason now just did not feel like an appropriate time. I reasoned with myself that I would come back later. 

I transferred control of communications back to my office and logged off the panel. Commander Riker dismissed me, and I made my way back to the communications office. Beatrice was still there sitting at the desk reading over some reports when I got back. I went straight back to my office, suddenly remembering the cup of Vulcan ale that I forgot to recycle before I had left. I went and recycled it now and then made a report with engineering to get my replicator looked at. Soon I got a message back from engineering, that they would send someone this evening. well, that wasn't ideal but it's better than nothing I guess.

I had just logged back onto my communications panel and started going through reports again, when I began to hear music. I looked through all of the communications ports, quickly realizing that this audio was being played through every single one. It sounded old, and grossly nationalistic. I noticed then a flash in bridge communications. I double checked, and registered that the bridge had power cut off. I sent a quick communication to Worf, double checking that there was no emergency. 

The ship has been acting so odd. And now, all of my communications channels were filled with band music. I tried to flush the channels several times, to no avail. I tapped my comm badge. 

"Lieutenant Harper to Commander Riker"

"Riker here."

"Pardon my Intrusion, Commander, but is there any particular reason my communications channels have been playing non-stop band music?"

"Further Glitches in the ship's computer. Just continue to monitor and try to flush them and get it back under control. Riker out."

Great. That was the opposite of helpful.

I sat there, switching back and forth between flushing communications channels, and going back over to reports for the next several hours. I was thoroughly bored. I was so engrossed in this medial task, that I barely even acknowledged the chiming of the door.

"Come in." I quickly called out my eyes still glued to my computer screen. When I heard the doors finally open, I looked up and was greeted with Lieutenant Worf's presence.

I quickly moved, standing up to greet him and offered him a seat at the chair on the opposite side of my desk. I also set down moving my computer monitor out of the way before addressing him again. 

"What can I help you with, Lieutenant?"

"I am going to need a full report of your interactions with Lieutenant Jackson. He informed me this morning that you relieved him of duty in the communications department."

I stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, I was flabbergasted. Is that seriously what that obnoxious dude told him?

"Lieutenant Worf I want to reiterate that I did not relieve him of duty. He stormed out of here after acting like an absolute child! If you ask me he is simply jealous I got the job and he didn't, and he's venting his frustrations out on me." 

I heard Worf scoff quietly, "I'm sure that is exactly the case, Lieutenant Harper. But, whether it was your doing or his, it should have been reported to me when it happened." 

I couldn't tell if Worf was angry or if just his Klingon disposition made it seem that way.

"Yes, but I'm at work, you're right that's my bad. I'll work on writing up my report right away." I focused back in on my computer screen opening up yet another interface to begin drafting my own report.

"Lieutenant Harper, I would advise against making too many enemies while you're here. It is not a good idea to get on anybody's bad side while you are trapped in a ship with them for the next several weeks."

I paused, sitting up. 

"Lieutenant Worf, with all due respect. this isn't my fault. I did nothing to provoke his wrath. He just, for some reason that I have yet to uncover, despises me. did he mention to you when he accused me of relieving him, that he called me all sorts of weird stuff? Like, tiger and sweetheart?" 

Worf had a disgusted expression on his face, and stood. "be sure to include things of that nature in your report and get it to me by first thing tomorrow morning." And then made her leave with my office. When I was sure that he had left and walked at least a few feet from the door, my fist came down hard on the table.

God why is everyone here such a fucking hard ass. 

I began to focus on my report again when I noticed the flash in the lights. I looked up for a moment questioning if it was me or if it actually happened. My suspicions were confirmed a few moments later, when the lights began to flicker much more prominently and the ship began to shake slightly again. Luckily this time, there only lasted for a few moments before the lights turned back on and the ship stilled. My comm badge rang once again.

"Data to Lieutenant Harper."

"Harper here."

"Lieutenant Harper report to the bridge."

"Oh my way."

Why does everyone insist on running me all around this ship today?

I exited once more, and found Data on the bridge. He was sitting at one of the computer panels. As I got closer, I saw him staring at a communications panel, fingers typing quicker than I could comprehend. 

"You wanted to see me, Sir?"

Data didn't even bother to look up from the panel before speaking. Well, I guess considering he is an Android, he probably could multi function better than anyone else. "We have determined that the cause for the malfunctions on the ship is an infestation of nanites that have invaded the computer system. We have further deduced that these nanites might have evolved to the point of intelligence, and thus, to the point of being able to communicate. Seeing as you are the Ship's communication officer, I would see your assistance in modifying the universal translator to be helpful."

Wait, what.

"Nanites? How on Earth did that happen?" Data didn't respond right away, and I continued to speak. "Are we sure that they're intelligent? And if so, why are we trying to circumvent the issue by trying to communicate? If they're being a nuisance, why haven't we simply tried to remove them?"

Data paused for a moment, his eyes shifting back and forth rapidly, I could only reason that this was his 'processing' face, before settling on something. "Dr. Stubbs had already attempted to do so on his own volition, which resulted in specific retaliation." Oh. "And further, if we know they can reason enough to retaliate, it is not too much of a jump to conclude that they are capable of communication." He spoke blankly, and his words settled on me. I felt bad for a moment. Data was also a synthetic life form, and I had just pretty much insulted another one to him. It didn't seem to hurt his feelings at all, if he even had any, but I couldn't help but feel remorse.

I sat down in the chair next to him logging on to the next computer panel. We sat there for a few moments, running through the universal translator code, trying to deduce what would be the best way to re-calibrate it. I was finally the one to speak up, "um, Data?" I asked softly. I didn't want anyone else on the bridge to hear me, and I had a feeling his hearing was more sensitive than everyone else's. He responded to me by stopping, and turning slightly. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry, I really don't think poorly of synthetic life forms, it's just, up until now, they’ve just been something I read about in textbooks."

He processed what I said for a moment before responding. "Do not worry, Laura, I am aware of the situation and the uncertainty it makes you feel. But there is no reason to worry, you did not hurt any feelings, as I do not have any." 

He went back to work and I took a deep breath. I moved my focus back to the screen, but my thoughts were still focused elsewhere. He says that he doesn't have feelings, but it's really hard to believe that. He is, in so many ways, perfectly human. 

-

I was eventually able to refocus my attention on my computer screen, and was working with, but maybe not as quickly as Data, and working the universal translator system over to translating code. I moved over the more complex grammar system itself, while Data worked on manually punching in direct translations. I was engrossed with work, and had almost jumped right out of my seat when Commander Riker had leaned over my seat to watch what I was doing. He was so close to me. I could hear his soft breathing just above me, and his presence almost radiated heat to me. He spoke to Data, who gave him quite the long explanation of what we were doing. I tried my best to focus on my work, but images of the other night flooded back to me.

If I'm being honest with myself, I don't think anything too close has happened. Which, relieved and worried me. On one hand, if things were to turn out poorly, nothing indicative could be used against me. But it also worried me. If things just as simple as flirting with him made me this bothered, I couldn't imagine what anything further would be like. I couldn't even reason with myself anymore if that would be a bad thing. I was brought out of my internal conflict by Will moving to sit up straight, and then by the soft sound of the Captain's voice behind me.

“Commander Riker. On my signal, we will gamma-irradiate all computer systems throughout the Enterprise. Let's put an end to this conflict.”

The captain is planning on killing all of the Nanites?

I glanced over at Data, who hadn’t seemed to flinch. I turned back to what I was doing. We were just about to be finished.

“Worf, prepare to activate gamma pulse generators.”

“Electromagnetic scanners ready, Captain.”

We were all startled by a sudden noise from Data’s computer, then his voice. “Captain.” Riker and I had leaned over to watch the binary blinking on Data’s comm panel. Could it be? “I have established contact.”

-  
Data and I sat, going over each new line of code that popped up on the screen. “As we continue, Captain, they are virtually learning the concept of communication. Each new generation is making modifications.” Data spoke, while I was too engrossed in such a remarkable phenomenon. “Can we actually talk to them yet?” The captain had walked back over to us, glancing at each screen curiously.

“I believe it is worth an attempt. sir.” 

"Commander Riker, bring Doctor Stubbs to the Bridge.”

Riker had exited, and I finally felt like I could breathe a little. I get it, I shouldn’t let any man distract me from my work, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel any sort of relief when he had stepped away.

-

Data and I had finished rounding out the system, while a whole slew of people seemed to gather around us. Captain Picard, Riker, Deanna, Doctor Crusher, Doctor Stubbs, and Lieutenant Worf had all gathered behind us, and I would be lying if I said that wasn’t incredibly intimidating. I went from being just the new hire here to helping reformat the system to maybe save the entire ship. If I hadn’t still been regretting yesterday, I’d say that I’d need a nap after today. As we finished up the last few loose ends, Data was the first to speak up “I am ready, sir.”, He said, glancing back at the captain. 

“Tell them the human who destroyed their comrades is here and wishes to address them.”

“Captain, if I-” Doctor Stubbs piped up, seeming almost annoyed, before being interrupted by the captain again.

“You, sir, you will explain your error and apologize, and pray that we can negotiate a peace we can all live with. Is that clear?”

“Captain, if a face to face negotiation would be helpful, I would like to volunteer myself as a conduit.” I whipped my head over to face Data, no one had even mentioned such a thing, why would he suggest it?

“Yourself, Data?” Riker expressed his concern.

“I can easily furnish the nanites with a schematic design of my neurological structure. Entering my neural network would require no more than their most basic skills.”

Doctor Crusher confirmed, “That's what they were designed for.” before Data continued.  
“They could penetrate the molecular fabric of my hand-covering into my nerve circuitry, and interface with my verbal programs.”

Worf spoke up this time, “If they have control of a Starfleet Commander, they become an even greater threat.” I couldn’t say he was wrong. Or even further, They could do to Data what they did to the ship. Start eating through his systems until he is unable to function. I mean, I’ve only known him for several days, but I wouldn’t wish that kind of death on anyone, synthetic or organic life form.

Captain Picard seemed to have similar concerns, “How can we be sure we can get them out of you?”

I thought about it for another moment, and despite my best judgement, which would say I should stay quiet, I spoke up. “It would be a considerable risk, Captain, but I think it’d also represent a gesture of trust on our part. It could be an important step toward peace, sir.” Captain Picard gave me a questioning look, but he eventually determined that that was a sound call.

“All right, Data. Propose it to the nanites.” Picard gave me a small smile, while Data worked at punching in the message. It didn’t take long before we had gotten a response.

“The answer is yes.”

-

Riker, Worf, Doctor Stubbs, and Data had all been called to a separate room, to negotiate peace with the nanites, and I was pacing around Deanna’s office after my shift.

“I just don’t get it, I worked so hard on trying to refit the translator, and I’m the communications officer, why was I not allowed to go?”

I made a noise of frustration, crossing my arms, and finally sitting down across from Deanna. “Seriously, I’m one of the officers who should absolutely be there!”

Deanna gave me a concerned look. I knew she could feel all the frustration boiling up inside of me. “ If I had to guess, I would say that it’s not anything personal. You know Laura, you’ve only been serving here for a few days, and the only reason you were there was because of Data and Will’s influence.”

I sighed, knowing she was more than likely right. “I just feel like I’ve only been here for a little while, but everyone has something out for me.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, “Lieutenant Jackson was a jerk, Worf seems to constantly have a stick up his ass, and Captain Picard seems.. indifferent at best, and annoyed at worst.” 

“Lieutenant Jackson will just have to get over it, he harbors a lot of jealousy. Worf is a special case. He kind of seems like that to everyone, so I wouldn’t take it personally. As for the Captain, I can tell you I’ve known him for a decent amount of time, and he really is a reasonable person, he just has a lot on his plate.” She took a moment to pause, and smiled, “Besides, he hasn’t even had the opportunity to talk to you and get to know you. I would say though, he was pleasantly surprised to hear you speak up today.”

I sat back, sighing, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

“And, you do have plenty of good relationships here, Including myself. And I know Data, Geordi and especially Will harbor nothing but friendly feelings for you.”

Oh yeah, Will.

“Yeah, about that.”

“Laura, how many times am I going to have to tell you I don’t judge you, or disapprove”

“I know, Deanna, just, something doesn’t feel quite right about it.” She could most definitely sense my hesitation. “He’s very...charismatic, and handsome, but I can’t help but feel if I cross that line, I’m going to regret it.”

“Is it because he’s a senior officer?”

I thought for another moment before responding, “Maybe? I mean, I know there's nothing against it in Starfleet regulations, but, I worry people may treat me differently if they found out? Or worse, if things go south, it could end poorly for me.”

“Go south in what way?”

“I..” I paused, I hadn’t actually thought about it that much. “Maybe if we have sex or something, he’ll get clingy, or I will, and things won’t work out and it’ll be awkward, then I can’t exist around him anymore.” 

Deanna reaches out, and squeezes my hand, ‘I can tell you certainly, as one of his oldest friends, that Will is one of the most understanding men I have ever met.” She leaned back again, “And at this point, you have few options. You can decide that your feelings are important, and understand that things will work out even if they aren’t ideal, or, you can keep things just friendly and professional.”

I sat for a moment. I was more confused about that situation than when I had started. 

“How about this, let’s move to talking about something else that’s bothering you?”

“Well, I guess I miss my family..”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please drop a kudos if you liked it and a comment if you have any critiques/suggestions! <3


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